Travel Highlights

by

Links below go to ten-page stories during the first year of travel, and are stored at
PerpetualTravel.com.
The rest of this extensive page is the only writing we have done for the rest of our travels after 1996.

Cairns - Friends in Clifton Beach. Live-aboard diving for three days in Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef: Holmes Reef Amazing Caves, Bridge of Sighs, Abyss, Cathedral, Nonkie Bommie; Flynn Reef, Thetford Reef. Training friends on Internet, so they bought local ISP within the year. Dinner with West Indian friends.

18 days, since we kept meeting interesting backpackers. Sanlitun Embassy area to get Pakistan and Indian visas; stockpile Western goods from the supermarkets; and eat in good restaurants. Met a man from the Tanzanian embassy, who gave us a tour and a meal. Wanfujing Avenue to Donganmen Night Market. Tiananmen Square. Largest McDonald's in the world. Met Henry from Switzerland, who we still travel with. Outdoor clothing market. Muslim Hui fruit and vegetable market, and night-time open-air restaurants. Beijing Concert Hall for violin recital. Summer Palace. Great Wall at Simatai. Silk Market. Friendship Store. Found Internet after searching for two weeks. Ancient Observatory. Yonghegong Tibetan Lamasery.

Datong - City of gougers. Pollution that burns eyes and throats, and went on to be the worst in China. Hanging Monastery. Yungang Buddhist Caves. Train 36-hr west; Kazakhs from Yining taught Marc some Uighur language, and tried to adopt him.

Lanzhou - Frontier town of three million. Night market. Met Silk Road Camel Caravan expedition team on the bus into the mountains.

Turfan - Desert Basin is the second lowest depression, and one of the hottest places on earth 47°C (116°F). Uighur Dance Show. Churrasco and hami melons under grape trellises with Brazilians working highway contracts.

Darjeeling - Three weeks of wandering the hills, and acclimating to India again, though quite Nepali and Tibetan.
Morning view of Kanchenjunga, world's third highest peak.

Kalimpong - Area with many Tibetans, and lots of orchids.

Siliguri - Unavoidable town, for train.

Delhi - Friends

Leh - Flight turned around just before landing due to bad weather. Arrived Jun 18, 2006 at 11,500 feet, with
snow on the mountains. Stayed three months to relax, and avoid the monsoon, but it made it there for the first time
anyone remembers, and caused extensive damage to mud houses and terraced fields, and left us with an hour of
electricity a day. Thiksey. Hemis Festival. Alchi. Dah Hanu. Ladakh Festival.

Kolkata/Calcutta - Old British market. Indian Museum. Sweets. Music shopping.

Thailand

Bangkok - Oct 27, 2006. Friends.

Chiang Mai - Six weeks of Thai language lessons, so we could get off tourist trail. Loy Krathong. Royal Flora Ratchapruek Expo. European
Union Film Festival. Food and Entertainment Festival at the 700 Year Stadium.

Chiang Khong - Border town on Mekong.

Laos

Huay Xai - Dec 24, 2006. Border town on Mekong.

Vientiane

Paksan - Small town on Mekong.

Ban Kong Lo - Small boat on river that runs through a mountain for 7km.

Tha Khaek - Small town on Mekong.

Savannakhet - Large town on Mekong.

Pakse - Small town on Mekong. Friend we met in Beijing in 1996 joined us.

Sekong - Village tour

Attepeu - Small town in the SE corner.

Pakse

Thailand

Mukdahan - Jan 29, 2007. Small border city on the Mekong, with cute night market.

That Phanom - Small city on the Mekong. Temple festival

Nakhon Phanom - Large border city on the Mekong.

Beung Kan - Small city on the Mekong.

Nong Khai - Border city on the Mekong, with good seafood at small night market. Sala Kaew Ku, a park full of enormous Hindu statues.

Chiang Khan - Small town on the Mekong. Huay Krating to float on a lake in bamboo huts.